From the Synod: Ordaining women deacons raises concerns that “need to be studied”

From the daily press briefing, via Vatican Radio: 

On Thursday Oct. 8 Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckley of Accra, Ghana, said that the world needs to be patient with Africa when it comes to dealing with issues like homosexuality. “Give countries time to deal with issues from our own cultural perspectives,” he said. He added that the dignity and rights of all God’s son and daughters need to be upheld.

The Synod Fathers continued to work in groups on Thursday. Archbishop Edoardo Menchelli from Ancona-Osimo, Italy, told the briefing that there was an “open fraternal discussion” in his group and that there were divergent views emerging amongst the Fathers. The bishops, he said, were discussing the first part of Instrumentum Laboris on the current situation of the family from a wide perspective.

…Arcbishop Menchelli said that talking about the role of women in the Church and homosexuality was not out of context at the Synod. He said that if one examines the mission and vocation of the family you realise that a gay brother, for example, is part of the family and impacts on all in the family. He said that the pastoral role of women was equally important but that the ordination of women deacons raised sacramental and theological concerns that would need to be studied.

…The Synod Fathers said that they did not feel the Synod was “western” at the expense of Africa. The Synod, they agreed, was universal in its approach. Palmer-Buckle said that the concerns of the European Church are the concerns of Africa and vice versa. He added that often “everything that’s good in Africa is not good enough for European media but anything that is black is what’s good enough.”

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